Korova Avenue || ONC 2022

Chapter 11

Dominique crouched behind a boulder that was about a kilometer away from the road. She pressed a finger to her lips and pointed at the stone arch ahead of them. A portcullis was lowered in the middle of it, creating an ominous entrance. Crow had no idea where it led.

Two guards stood outside of the gateway. They both wore thick armor and carried long swords. One was stumped against the ground, snoring loudly. The other appeared younger. He gripped his sword and looked around with confidence.

Dominique pointed to Crow and then pointed at the ground. She wanted him to stay put. Then, she slinked off to the side. She creeped in a wide circle until she was on the right of the conscious guard. Moving quietly, she pulled out a knife and stuck it to his throat. At the same time, she shoved her other hand over his mouth.

"If you make one noise I'll slit your throat." She snarled in his ear. It was barely audible.

Then she locked eyes with Crow and tilted her head at her feet in a gesture that said, "come here."

Once he was nearby, she whispered, "Put a bag over the sleeping one's head and drag him as far away as you can."

Crow reached for Dominique's satchel and rummaged through it. He felt his fingers brush one of the burlap sacks that had previously held fruit. He padded over to the other guard and gently lifted his head. The man let out a small groan, but didn't wake up. Crow secured the bag and grabbed his arm. As carefully as he could, Crow pulled the sentry behind another cluster of large rocks.

He made his way back and noticed that Dominique was conversing with her hostage.

"Open the gates, let us in, and tell no one. If we come out alive, you'll be heavily rewarded. Otherwise, I'll give you a slow and painful death."

The boy whimpered but agreed to do what she asked. He looked much stronger than Dominique but, her confidence and aggression was enough to make anyone nervous.

The guard stuck his hand between two rocks and pushed a lever. The gate began to slowly creek upwards.

Dominique grabbed Crow's hand with a sense of urgency and ducked under the portcullis. They were on the other side before it had reached the top.

Crow heard the gate hit the ground behind him and assumed that they were alone until he heard quiet footsteps. He turned around to see the sentry following them.

"What are you doing?" Crow's voice wavered with fear.

"The girl intrigues me. She seemed so confident that she would be able to do whatever she wanted. I would like to know why you're here."

"Listen, mate," Dominique spit out the words, "I'm not just some girl for you to hit on."

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that at all. I just thought it was curious that the two of you were here."

"And why should we tell you?"

"I was trained by the King's army to make any trespassers pay for their crimes."

"Maybe he can help us, we don't actually know where we're going," Crow spoke in Dominique's ear.

"Fine. I'm Dominique and this is Crow. We need to read the book of Fate."

"I see. And I assume you need an escort?"

Crow nodded.

"Well I can do just that."

"Should we trust him?" Crow asked Dominique.

"I guess he's our best bet at finding what we came for." The locked eyes with the guard, "Lead the way."

As they walked, Crow studied the other boy.

"I don't believe we learned your name."

"I'm Rhodes, Knight of King Northrop."

"Wait, you're an actual knight?"

"Yes?" Rhodes hesitated in his answer as if he was unsure why anyone would ask such an obvious answer.

Dominique jumped in, "Crow's not from around here. I guess some of our ways are a bit foreign to him."

"Oh, are you from one of the nearby kingdoms?"

Crow looked at Dominique for approval. She shrugged and put her palms up like, "it's your choice."

"I'm actually from the mortal world. Dominique here, accidentally let me in and now she's stuck with me until we figure out what to do."

"Woah. You should not be here. How did it happen?"

"Well, we're not exactly sure. That's why we need to see Fate. Dominique's friend thinks that I might be special somehow."

"The Golden Boy with his pretty golden hair." Rhodes smirked.

"That's about right."

"Okay, so you're some sort of savior. What do you have to offer?"

"Nothing. I'm not cunning like Dominique and I can't fight. I'm not smart, or athletic. I'm just silly little Crow with his special little eyes that glow when he's mad."

"I'm not sure I can help you with any of that, but I'll give you a sword. It doesn't take a lot of skill to run a blade through an enemy."

Rhodes removed his scabbard from his side.

"If you do save us, I want to say that I helped you out."

Crow accepted the sword with a quiet thanks. Crow wasn't sure what to make of Rhodes. He was tall and strong and wore full body armor. He was a knight for crying out loud! Crow felt small and useless between his two companions. Dominique noticed his discomfort and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"So," Rhodes gestured to the cavern around them. "This is the dungeon."

They passed many hallways, but continued straight. Rhodes promised that there was nothing worth seeing down there. At one point they had to press against the wall as two soldiers turned up ahead. They held a masked prisoner between them. The inmate kicked and squirmed and they were dragged down another hall.

Rhodes stuck a finger to his lips as he shuffled forward, keeping himself out of sight. The three of them continued that way for some time until Rhodes declared it safe to proceed as normal.

Crow could see no end to the long passageway, but he hoped that it wouldn't be far until they reached their destination. He was really glad for Rhodes' help, they never would have found their way alone.

The area that they were in now was slightly lighter than before. Every few meters there was a small torch along the wall to help them see. Crow started to peer down other corridors and he noticed steel jail bars. There appeared to be many cells in this dungeon. Crow wondered who would have so many enemies that needed locking up. Sticking out from some of the cells, Crow could see fingers and hands. Some were gnarled and old, while others resembled mere children. Crow wanted to walk down every hall just to see who was there, but he knew that it would be an extremely bad idea, so he settled for his imagination.

Crow shivered as piercing screams filled the air. He looked at Rhodes with concern.

"Don't worry. It's probably some prisoner in a cell. They can't hurt you."

"O-okay. How much longer?"

"Not too long. We'll take a right in about ten minutes."

Crow couldn't wait. He wanted to get out of there.